Reform

Reform is to put or change into an improved form or condition; to amend or improve by change of color or removal of faults or abuses, beneficial change, more specifically, reversion to a pure original state, to repair, restore or to correct. Reform is generally distinguished from revolution. The latter means basic or radical change; whereas reform may be no more than fine tuning, or at most redressing serious wrongs without altering the fundamentals of the system. Reform seeks to improve the system as it stands, never to overthrow it wholesale. Radicals on the other hand, seek to improve the system, but try to overthrow whether it be the government or a group of people themselves.

The voice of great events is proclaiming to us, Reform, that you may preserve.

Thomas Babington Macaulay, speech on parliamentary reform (March 2, 1831); in The Complete Writings of Lord Macaulay (1900), vol. 17, p. 18. President Franklin D. Roosevelt paraphrased slightly "The words of the great essayist", not named: "The voice of great events is proclaiming to us. Reform if you would preserve", in his address at the Democratic state convention, Syracuse, New York (September 29, 1936). The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936 (1938), p. 390.

The best reformers the world has ever seen are those who commence on themselves.

Attributed to George Bernard Shaw. Evan Esar, The Dictionary of Humorous Quotations (1949), p. 178. Reported by Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989) as unverified in Shaw's published writings.

He bought a Bible of the new translation,
And in his life he show'd great reformation;
He walkèd mannerly and talked meekly;
He heard three lectures and two sermons weekly;
He vow'd to shun all companions unruly,
And in his speech he used no oath but "truly;"
And zealously to keep the Sabbath's rest.

The Bolshevists would blow up the fabric with high explosive, with horror. Others would pull down with the crowbars and with cranks—especially with cranks…. Sweating, slums, the sense of semi-slavery in labour, must go. We must cultivate a sense of manhood by treating men as men.

I do not mean to be disrespectful, but the attempt of the Lords to stop the progress of reform, reminds me very forcibly of the great storm of Sidmouth, and of the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Partington on that occasion. In the winter of 1824, there set in a great flood upon that town—the tide rose to an incredible height: the waves rushed in upon the houses, and everything was threatened with destruction. In the midst of this sublime and terrible storm, Dame Partington, who lived upon the beach, was seen at the door of her house with mop and pattens, trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea water, and vigorously pushing away the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic was roused. Mrs. Partington's spirit was up; but I need not tell you that the contest was unequal. The Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington. She was excellent at a slop or a puddle, but she should not have meddled with a tempest.